Comparative analysis of skin characteristics evaluation by a dermatologist and the Janus-III measurement system.

BACKGROUND: The Janus-III measurement system evaluates the overall skin characteristics such as skin pore, wrinkle, sebum, porphyrin, skin pigmentation, and skin color using high-resolution facial images. The values are measured from five different facial areas, namely, the forehead, nose, corner of/skin below the eyes, and cheeks. Owing to its convenience and diverse measuring characteristics, Janus-III has been widely used in skin research and the cosmetic industry in Korea. In our previous study, we revealed the consistency and reliability of the system with repeatedly measured values. Its measuring performance was investigated statistically, but to make it more reliable for academic skin research, additional verification by a professional dermatologist is needed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we conducted comparative analysis of three skin characteristics (pigmented spot, skin color, and eye wrinkle) by a dermatologist and the Janus-III measurement system. We utilized 330 image data that were cropped from the whole facial images of 330 different participants to avoid correlation among the three measuring items. Pearson's correlation coefficient exhibited similar patterns between the system and the dermatologist's findings. RESULTS: The main finding of our study was that the measured value of skin characteristics by the Janus-III system showed clear correlation with the values evaluated by a dermatologist, especially in a pigmented spot. CONCLUSION: Therefore, it would be a plausible idea to consider the Janus-III system for specialized research of skin characteristics even with a small sample size.

Repeated measurements of facial skin characteristics using the Janus-â ¢ measurement system.

BACKGROUND: For personalized skin care, noninvasive quantitative methods to evaluate facial skin characteristics are important. Janus-III is one of the most widely used imaging analysis devices in the skin care industry in Korea. Janus-III generates values for a range of skin characteristics. Due to the convenience of obtaining results for a variety of skin characteristics in a single measurement, the use of Janus-III in cosmetic stores and research institutes has been recently increasing. However, the consistency of skin measurements of Janus-III has not been elucidated yet. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we repeated skin measurements three times for 70 different subjects and compared each numerical value in order to assess the consistency of the Janus-III. For this purpose, we compared between-sample distances and within-sample distances. RESULTS: We found important patterns for future analyses in terms of consistency. First, the average values of skin measurement categories were more reliable than individual part values of facial segments. Second, center part values such as forehead and nose were more reliable than side part values such as left and right part segments. CONCLUSION: If researchers who use Janus-III for studies of facial characteristics analyze average and center part values first, they can obtain relatively reliable patterns of facial skin characteristics.

Skin aging-related microbial types separated by Cutibacterium and α-diversity.

BACKGROUND: Studies on the skin microbiome have been conducted to uncover the relationship between skin microbes and the host. However, most of these studies have primarily focused on analyzing individual microbial compositions, which has resulted in a limited understanding of the overall relationship. METHODS: We analyzed the facial skin characteristics and microbial profiles of 100 healthy Korean female volunteers using the V1-V2 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. RESULTS: The two most prominent features of the facial skin microbiome, the proportion of Cutibacterium and α-diversity, were associated with most of the skin characteristics. Based on clustering results, we proposed four types of facial skin microbiome: type C for Cutibacterium, type B for balanced, type CB for those between types C and B, and type O for others. Type C, which has a high proportion of Cutibacterium, showed high levels of pigmentation, wrinkles, pores, and sagging pores, indicating a tendency for severe skin aging. Type B, which has no dominant species and high microbial diversity, had lower values for pigmentation and wrinkles indicating less severe skin aging. Type CB was an intermediate type between type C and type B in terms of microbial composition and the level of skin aging. Type O dominated by microorganisms other than Cutibacterium, had high levels of sebum and pores but low levels of wrinkles. CONCLUSION: We proposed a criterion for classifying facial skin microbial types, each of which showed distinct facial skin aging features. Our simplified microbial types will contribute to a better understanding of facial skin microbial studies.

GWAS Analysis of 17,019 Korean Women Identifies the Variants Associated with Facial Pigmented Spots.

Variation in skin pigmentation can be affected by both environmental factors and intrinsic factors such as age, gender, and genetic variation. Recent GWASs revealed that genetic variants of genes functionally related to a pigmentation pathway were associated with skin pigmentary traits. However, these GWASs focused on populations with European ancestry, and only a few studies have been performed on Asian populations, limiting our understanding of the genetic basis of skin pigmentary traits in Asians. To evaluate the genetic variants associated with facial pigmented spots, we conducted a GWAS analysis of objectively measured facial pigmented spots in 17,019 Korean women. This large-scale GWAS identified several genomic loci that were significantly associated with facial pigmented spots (five previously reported loci and two previously unreported loci, to our knowledge), which were detected by UV light: BNC2 at 9p22 (rs16935073; P-value = 2.11 × 10-46), PPARGC1B at 5q32 (rs32579; P-value = 9.04 × 10-42), 10q26 (rs11198112; P-value = 9.66 × 10-38), MC1R at 16q24 (rs2228479; P-value = 6.62 × 10-21), lnc01877 at 2q33 (rs12693889; P-value = 1.59 × 10-11), CDKN2B-AS1 at 9p21 (rs643319; P-value = 7.76 × 10-9), and MFSD12 at 19p13 (rs2240751; P-value = 9.70 × 10-9). Further functional characterization of the candidate genes needs to be done to fully evaluate their contribution to facial pigmented spots.

Mitochondrial and Plastid Genomes from Coralline Red Algae Provide Insights into the Incongruent Evolutionary Histories of Organelles.

Mitochondria and plastids are generally uniparentally inherited and have a conserved gene content over hundreds of millions of years, which makes them potentially useful phylogenetic markers. Organelle single gene-based trees have long been the basis for elucidating interspecies relationships that inform taxonomy. More recently, high-throughput genome sequencing has enabled the construction of massive organelle genome databases from diverse eukaryotes, and these have been used to infer species relationships in deep evolutionary time. Here, we test the idea that despite their expected utility, conflicting phylogenetic signal may exist in mitochondrial and plastid genomes from the anciently diverged coralline red algae (Rhodophyta). We generated complete organelle genome data from five coralline red algae (Lithothamnion sp., Neogoniolithon spectabile, Renouxia sp., Rhodogorgon sp., and Synarthrophyton chejuensis) for comparative analysis with existing organelle genome data from two other species (Calliarthron tuberculosum and Sporolithon durum). We find strong evidence for incongruent phylogenetic signal from both organelle genomes that may be explained by incomplete lineage sorting that has maintained anciently derived gene copies or other molecular evolutionary processes such as hybridization or gene flow during the evolutionary history of coralline red algae.

[A case of complete regression of hepatocellular carcinoma during administration of COX-2 inhibitor].

Overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) has been associated with hepatocarcinogenesis. Inhibitors of COX-2 have proapoptotic and antiproliferative effects on malignant tumors and inhibit tumor invasion to the surrounding tissues. We report here a case of complete regression of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) during COX-2 inhibitor administration. An eighty-year-old female was diagnosed as an advanced HCC, which was associated with HCV infection. She received COX-2 inhibitor for 3 months due to degenerative arthritis of both knees. Tumor enhancement on arterial phase CT completely disappeared without specific treatment for the HCC, and the tumor size decreased on the follow-up CT scan.

Endoscopic Ultrasonograpic Findings of Benign Mediastinal and Abdominal Lymphadenopathy Confirmed by EUS-guided Fine Needle Aspiration.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Distinguishing benign and malignant lymph nodes by the findings of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is still controversial. We tried to evaluate EUS findings of benign mediastinal and abdominal lymphadenopathy (BLAP) confirmed by EUS-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA). METHODS: A total of 37 patients with enlarged mediastinal or abdominal lymph nodes (diameter >/=1 cm) were enrolled and EUS-FNA was performed. Final diagnosis was based on FNA cytology and follow up imaging studies (CT scans or EUS). RESULTS: Thirteen patients were confirmed to have BLAP by EUS-FNA. Causes of BLAP were as follows; (i) extrapulmonary tuberculosis in six cases including patients with postoperative states due to cervical cancer and advanced gastric cancer, (ii) Kikuchi disease in one case, (iii) hypereosinophilic syndrome in one case, (iv) reactive hyperplasia in five cases including patients with postoperative states due to thyroid cancer, lung cancer, and EGC with ESD. EUS findings of BLAP revealed that median lymph node size was 24.7 mm. Lymph nodes were oval or round shaped in 9 cases, sharp borders in 9 cases, hypoechoic echo pattern in 7 cases, heterogenous internal echo pattern in 7 cases. Other findings included internal septation, calcification, multiplicity, attachment to the gastrointestinal tract wall, and conglomeration. CONCLUSIONS: EUS findings of BLAP were not different from those of malignant lymphadenopathy previously reported in other studies.